Workers lay Ole Hanson-style tiles in 2007 in front of Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, Hanson’s former home in San Clemente. Local merchants want the city to add more replica Hanson tiles in San Clemente’s Pier Bowl area.

As sidewalks in San Clemente’s Pier Bowl area are being redecorated with pink tiles reminiscent of town founder Ole Hanson’s original sidewalks of the 1920s, local merchants are asking the city to add more of the replica Hanson tiles to decorate a service road that leads to the railroad tracks and the pier.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider the Pier Bowl Merchants Association’s request, along with several lesser options for repaving the service road used by pedestrians, public-safety personnel, beach-maintenance workers, and trash and delivery trucks.

Tim Shaw, project manager for a $1.8 million Pier Bowl beautification that includes new sidewalks, new light fixtures and a decorated railroad undercrossing, says he is recommending limited use of the Ole Hanson tiles. Rather than cover the entire service road with tiles leading to the rail crossing, Shaw suggests putting tiles only at the entrance to the road, from curb to curb, as a sort of crosswalk or extension of the sidewalk.

In a report to the City Council, Shaw said the original proposal – 1,425 square feet of Ole Hanson tiles in the entire area – would cost $46,000 and could pose some problems. The tiles may not look so nice after much truck traffic, he said, and railroad markings over the tiles would detract from the appearance and could make the tiles slippery. Also, he said, having tiles there could increase the cost of maintaining traffic-control loops that would have to be installed beneath the tiles.

His alternative, costing $27,000, would enhance the service road with 310 square feet of Ole Hanson tiles for a decorative crosswalk without the other complications. He offered a variation on that with 350 square feet of tiles costing $28,000, and a fourth option to resurface the whole area with asphalt and no tiles ($16,000).

The City Council – convening as the Redevelopment Agency – will take up the question at the end of a 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday at City Hall, 100 Avenida Presidio.

Other council agenda topics include a decision on how to spend 2011’s allocation of an expected $395,000 in federal funds for community improvements and a proposal to introduce remote-caller bingo to San Clemente.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.

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